Forgive and Forget, a Zatara Fanfic
by ElishaHada
Summary: Every other person in the group had forgiven the former prince, Zuko. Even Sokka had managed to bring himself to forget their ex-enemy. But Katara wouldn't give in so easily. She was foolish enough to let herself trust him once. Rated T just to be safe. One-shot. Review if you liked!


**A/N: Okay my first ever Zatara fanfic, reviews and constructive criticism is appreciative. Also I think this falls into the episode the beginning of the Southern Raiders, let's just forget the fact that they had landed on an ocean coast and pretend it was near a lake. Enjoy!**

Forgive and forget.

An old saying, if one were to think about it, it would be an easy task to accomplish. To forgive the person who did you wrong, to forget, and start anew. For most, it would have been a simple task, but easier said than done.

Every other person in the group had forgiven the former prince, Zuko. Even Sokka had managed to bring himself to forget their ex-enemy. But Katara wouldn't give in so easily. She was foolish enough to let herself trust him once.

_'Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice…yeah we'll see about that_,' she scowled at him silently to herself as the young girl practiced her water bending. She wouldn't let her guard down again as she had in the Earth kingdom.

"Hey Katara!" she turned to face her group members, "You're missing the best part. Zukko's just about to tell us how he embarrassed Admiral Zhao in front of his own men!" Sokka, her big brother, shouted to her. The group had decided to stop and take a rest near a lake and build fire for dinner. Katara had finished eating early to work on a move she had been aiming to accomplish in any of her free times, which hadn't been much.

Katara rolled her eyes and continued practicing her moves, moving her arms gracefully as she kept her back straight. "I'm okay Sokka; I just need to do this move first."

Her brother just shrugged and urged the newest member to finish his story.

As the waterbender tried to perfect her move, toning out the others, she became lost in her own thoughts. She had to admit, Zuko wasn't _that_ bad of a guy now. He was easy on the eyes too; of course she would never utter a word to anyone of that matter. Everyone seemed to like him, and he really did seem to change his ways. He did help find Sokka free their dad.

But what if everything he had been doing was a sly plan? He did seem like a different person back at the cave under the Earth King's palace, but he had turned around and attacked Aang and her. Who says that this wasn't his way of trying to get close to her friends and herself and then stab them in the back again?

_'Snap out of it Katara, you have to focus on this move.' _

She swiftly moved her arms in slow clock wise circles, willing the water to move to the similar patterns. That was the easy part. Katara then took a deep breath and harshly pushed her arms up hoping to raise the lake out of its bed. She groaned as the lake stayed still. The young girl slouched her shoulders and sighed, ready to try the technique another day.

"Don't give up."

A startled Katara jumped at the voice. Of course she recognized who it belonged to.

"_Zuko, _what do you want?" Katara asked in an ice cold tone. She looked back to see the rest of the group had gone to sleep and heard Zuko sigh, but brushed it off. If he wanted her forgiveness, he wouldn't get it easily as he did with the others.

"I just wanted to help you with your stance," he simply stated shrugging. Zukka had no desire wake up the group with a shouting match between him and Katara.

"Thanks, but I don't need your help. I was doing just fine before, that won't change now," Katara retorted. _'Maybe that was a bit too mean,' _she thought to herself, but quickly brushed it off. He deserved it. She crossed her arms, glaring at the firebender.

"Actually, you weren't," before Katara could reply back, Zuko continued on, "First you're wasting your time playing around with your hand it's more effective if you just try to push the water upwards with your whole body from the very beginning, those slow arms motions won't do any good for a move like this. Second, I bet you're not clearing your mind, just clear your head of all thoughts and think of the water. If you focus your mind on the water, it would be easier to lift up the entire lake. Lastly, your stance is wrong for this kind of technique. You should spread your legs a further, like an earth bender, it gives more of a chance for a success. Oh, and don't refrain from moving your back. Crouch down first, and then quickly rise up as you lift yours arms up like you're pushing up heavy board with both hands." He demonstrated the moves for her.

Zuko couldn't help but grin in amusement at the surprised face of Katara's, "Just try it and hey if I'm wrong you can gloat about how I embarrassed myself in front of you by being too arrogant." Zuko smiled to himself as he heard Katara slightly laugh.

"All right, I like the sound of you being proved wrong," she said.

Katara turned back to face the rock, following Zuko's advice she took her position. Slowly closing her eyes and picturing the water rising off of the ground and into the air, Katara bent her knees and quickly rose up as she lifted her hands up harshly. Her eyes opened in shock as she heard water splash. The entire lake had been lifted off of its bed and floated high in the air. Not a single drop had been left behind nor was any water dripping off the water in the air. Katara laughed, she had _finally_ completed the move and flawlessly at that. Smiling from ear to ear and forgetting about her anger towards Zuko, Katara set the water back into the bed, turned around, and ran towards the firebender hugging him tightly.

Zuko's body stiffened for a few moments, but finally succumbed and wrapped his arms around Katara. After a minute, the two benders pulled back slightly.

"How did you know about waterbending?" Katara asked as she stared into his golden eyes. She knew it was weird that she had just embraced a person who she hated ever since she could remember, but it felt…_right_. He felt so warm and surprisingly smelled like Jasmine tea.

"My uncle had studied the ways of the waterbenders a long time ago. He had taught me some moves at one point," he replied. Zuko noticed just how close they were and couldn't keep himself from leaning in.

Katara noticed and looked away, "W-Well, uh, I guess I should say thanks so…thanks."

The firebender grinned at her flustered state, "Well it did look like you needed it."

Forgetting about her personal space, the fourteen year old girl furrowed her eyebrows. "Hey! I'll have you know, I was doing just fine before you poked your nose into my business," Katara exclaimed overlooking the fact that she was now face to face with Zuko, "and I would've gotten it with a few more tries and without your help. So don't get all high and mighty-"

Zuko cut her off with his lips sealed upon hers. Katara's eyes widened before responding to the kiss. She closed her eyes and her hands grabbed onto his shirt, his hands on her waist, and their lips dancing in a perfect way. As he pulled away, she ignored the fact that she felt her lips tingling.

"You talk too much," Zuko stated in a whisper. _And I really like you. _He let out a small smile.

Katara pulled back and stepped away from him, "Don't you ever do that again."

The sixteen year old boy frowned, "Katara I-"

"No! Don't ever touch me again; what gives you any right to kiss me? Who do you think you are? I still don't trust you and I never will. You're still that evil person who hunted my friends and me down and tried to kill us in the process. You can't change that. Accept it, Zuko."

Anger boiled up in Zuko, "This isn't fair, everyone else seems to trust me now. I've proven myself to you many times. What is it with you?!"

"I was the first one to trust you, remember? Back in the Ba Sing Se you turned around and you betrayed all of us, you betrayed me. You except me to trust you? How can I when you're the reason the Aang almost died? I was stupid enough to let my guard down in front of you, it won't happen again. "

Zuko looked down ashamed as Katara left, leaving him alone in the night.


End file.
